Korea mulling sanctions against Syria over chemical weapons use

South Korea is considering sanctions against Syria for the regime's illegal use of chemical weapons, the foreign ministry said Tuesday.

"The South Korean government expresses its deep concerns over Syria's use of chemical weapons," spokesman Cho June-hyuck said in a regular briefing, referring to recent findings by the Joint Investigative Mechanism by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons and the United Nations.

The reports by the joint team found the Syrian regime used industrial chlorine as a weapon against its own people. Three attacks using chlorine have been confirmed in Syrian regions from 2014-2015. 

Rebel fighters on the outskirts of northern Syria (Reuters-Yonhap)

In response, the US Department of Treasury put 18 Syrian senior regime officials and five Syrian military units on its sanctions list a week earlier.   

"(South Korea) pays attention to the reports of the OPCW-UN
Security Council Joint Investigative Mechanism and emphasizes with the US sanctions efforts," Cho said, adding Seoul is also "considering related measures." (Yonhap)